Parents’ Beliefs Regarding Shared Reading with Infants and Toddlers

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Author(s)

Libby J Hallas, Alefyah Shipchandler, Jennifer A Hall-Lande, Karen Bonuck

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Free

Description

Parent beliefs about reading to young children—and factors related to such beliefs—affect a child’s reading skill. But, little is known about parent beliefs about reading to infants and toddlers. To fill this gap, three University Centers of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDs) studied 43 English and Spanish speaking parents of children aged 9-18 months. The three UCEDDs were working on a project to create a children’s book that had tips for parents about how their one year-old learns and grows. The UCEDD study survey asked about parent beliefs about reading to young children (4 questions) and factors related to those beliefs (2 questions). Parents were also asked to give feedback about the book. Nearly all parents agreed that children should be read to as infants and that this helps children develop reading skills. Most (62%) parents said it was "very common" for friends and family to read with children of this age (62%). Parents said that reading the board-book together was: useful for “promot[ing] language,” “help[ing] my baby’s development,” and “help[ing] my child speak.” More research like this can identify ways to help parents of young children develop reading skills.

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Date

2021 

Type

Peer-Reviewed Article 

Edition

Volume 2, Number 1

Publisher

Utah State University